Expert: We Could Have Gas 'Price Spike That Affects Eastern Half Of Country'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The average price of a gallon of regular gas in the five-county Philadelphia area has gone up only a penny since last week.
But with a third of the nation's refineries in Texas, how might Tropical Storm Harvey affect our gas prices?
Tom Kloza, Head of Energy Analysis at Oil Price Information Service, says he thinks the market was counting on a loss of production in Houston and Corpus Christi, but the latter was only dealt a glancing blow, and should be back in business soon.
As for Houston:
"If we lose a couple of refineries because of flooding in a control room or something, we could have a brief, periodic price spike that affects essentially the eastern half of the country, maybe 5 or 20 cents," Kloza said.
READ: Gas Prices Expected To Spike In Aftermath Of Hurricane Harvey
Kloza believes the end of the driving season in just a few days will help prevent too much pain at the pump.
"Then it's easier to manufacture gasoline, it's easier to find it on the imported market, so this is not gonna be a Katrina-like event or a Rita-like event in sending fuel prices higher," said Kloza.